Osho and the Pig
I heard that one time a pig got into an argument with Osho.
“Why should I meditate?” the pig said. “I’m just going to turn into a ham sandwich anyway.”
Osho, who knew this pig so well, decided to play a trick on him. “Just pretend the sandwich is already eaten.”
At this, the pink little pig was greatly enlightened.
**************************************************
Commentary by Reb Levi Yitzchak:
Osho was, and perhaps is, an Enlightened Master, as they would say if you conjoined Indian and Buddhist spiritual nomenclatures, who attempted to jolt people awake in the 1960s, ‘70s, and ’80s. His followers, called sannyasins, of course, had no idea what he was up to, and became deservedly notorious for horrible things they did at their onetime commune, Rajneeshpuram, in Oregon. But that’s how these things go.
Don’t buy a Rolls Royce. Get an Uber instead.
Levi Yitzchak was an almost enlightened guy, who helped take the message of another Enlightened Master, Israel Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov, to all the Jews of Eastern Europe in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, after the Baal Shem’s death.
What the Baal Shem was trying to do was get across what he had experienced in the term Buddhists call Enlightenment, which is actually a sense of pure joy, freedom, and laughter where men and women both (some say even the trees and grasses around them) combine with what is actually the Living Universe (that’s my term) in just the biggest smile available.
That’s what Osho attempted, but these things often go astray. The Baal Shem’s movement became Hasidism. Jesus’s became the Catholic Church. Osho’s is still in progress. We’ll see what happens.
But now to Reb Levi’s commentary:
One sees that the pig (who Adonai says please don’t eat, as there was no understanding of trichinosis at the time of Moses) has actually played a trick on Osho! Osho is really giving a sermon to the ham sandwich!
“Please be nice to this well meaning little pig,” Osho says. “Don’t get this cute little fellow, even though he truly does love a good roll in the mud, involved any further with this violent human race! Look what trouble they are causing, even in the year 2024, still just having the utmost joy in murdering each other in giant wars (and smaller instances of violence.) Let him be! I know you are delicious (speaking to the ham sandwich), but just consider how mixed up you’re going to get him!”
Osho, who was already in trouble with all the deities and all the priests and rabbis across the whole world, listened politely to Reb Levi, but, as was and is his wont, decided that he would explain to the rabbi that the real message is how to realize that you and the ham sandwich are one, so, as you are already traif, why not just relax and enjoy your own self?
At this, Reb Levi was greatly enlightened, which was a relief to the rebbe’s wife, who preferred he stay home and help her cook, rather than going to the schul all day and pretending to actually know things,
When real enlightenment is happier if you just know how to make a good chicken soup.
_______________________
© “John” Lesly Levin 2024
(If you have a problem with Reb Levi, talk to him. Osho, the pig, and I are having lunch.)
